A Gettysburg Photo Tour: Then & Now Photos with Map Locations and GPS Coordinates

By Jack L Kunkel

Come back in time with me as we tour the exact locations on the Gettysburg battlefield where events happened - both momentous and mundane - during the battle that changed American history. We know for sure exactly where certain events happened because we can match the modern-day locations to where the old, period photographs were taken. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pepper Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781087870670

Jack L Kunkel

I’m the author of five books on the Civil War battles, three of them on the battle of Gettysburg, one on Shiloh and one on Antietam. I try not to simply write “history books;” rather I tell stories – true ones – that are hopefully entertaining as well as informing, while sticking absolutely true to the facts to the best of my knowledge. Although I love military history, I consider myself more of a presenter than a historian, meaning that, rather than unearthing new facts, I concentrate more on presenting the facts, while taking full advantage of modern technology when possible. For example, in studying battles, it’s always frustrated me to encounter thick books loaded with text, but which contain only a few obscure maps. In contrast, most of my books are loaded with photos, maps, and illustrations, often with links to on-line Google maps and/or YouTube battlefield videos. Although Americans were once justifiably proud of the fact that the nation was able to knit itself back together after such a terrible civil war, today we once again live in divisive times unseen since that war, and writers and teachers are expected to choose sides and deliver politically-correct homilies, depending on which way the political winds are blowing at the moment. I don’t do that. My only agenda is the truth. As far as I’m concerned, the Civil War participants on both sides were Americans, products of their time and environment, and quite prepared to die for what they believed in. And I honor all of them equally. And so, as an author, I just tell what happened and let readers sort out the heroes and villains to suit themselves. As always, I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I did writing them! Jack Kunkel

Book preview

A Gettysburg Photo Tour

Then & Now Photos with Map Locations

and GPS Coordinates

by

Jack Kunkel

TOP

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

Map Overview

Chapter 1 The Photographers

Chapter 2 Fighting on the First Day

Chapter 3 West of Gettysburg

Chapter 4 Central Gettysburg

Chapter 5 South Gettysburg

Chapter 6 Little Round Top

Chapter 7 Devils Den

Chapter 8 Slaughter Pen

Chapter 9 Peach Orchard & Trostle Farm

Chapter 10 Rose Farm

Chapter 11 Culps Hill

Chapter 12 East Cemetery Hill

Chapter 13 Cemetery Ridge

Chapter 14 The Cemeteries

Copyright

References

Index

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Introduction

If you’re reading this, you may well be one of those people who like to know exactly where something happened in history. Me too.

Photography, especially outdoor photography, was in its infancy at the start of the Civil War. And so we're fortunate to have a few, precious photographs of the battle of Gettysburg; they weren't taken while the battle was in progress, but many were shot just a few days later.

But over the decades, history lost track of exactly when and where these photos were taken. Experts made guesses which turned out to be wildly wrong in many cases. But in the 1970s, a graduate of Gettysburg College and Civil War history fanatic - William Frassantino - decided to track down the location of these photos. He spent years locating all the old photos, poring over them in minute detail, and then stalking the fields of Gettysburg, looking for rocks, hills, trees and buildings that matched some tiny detail in the pictures.

He published his findings in four ground-breaking books which in some cases changed even the Park Service’s views on what happened where on the battlefield.

Having the advantage of hindsight and improved technology, as good as Frassantino's books were I decided they could stand some improvement; in modern parlance, they needed an upgrade to make photo tours of Gettysburg more user-friendly.

First of all, his photo collections are scattered over four books, and unless you buy and read all four, you’re not getting the complete scope of photographs available. Secondly, his maps are vague; they might not look vague when you’re sitting in your living room but, trust me on this, when you’re out in the field wandering around woods or stepping through manure in some cow pasture, you’ll want a hell of a lot more precision than you’ll find in the maps in his books.

Finally, his best work, Early Photography at Gettysburg, is as much a study of the photographers, and the detective work Frassantino did to track down their work and how he reached his conclusions, as it is of the battle itself. That’s interesting, but I’m more interested in what the photos tell us about the battle. In other words, I’m more focused on what went on in front of the camera, not behind it.

So I compiled this photo album. I didn’t include all of the photos from Frassantino’s four books; I could have, but many of them are boring and/or repetitive. I think I’ve included all the best ones - particularly the ones taken shortly after the battle. If you’re reading the color version of the paper book or using an eReader, the modern photos are all in color. The maps are also in color and I think much more precise than the originals; and even if they’re not, I’ve included GPS coordinates. So, with or without a map, you just can’t miss finding these spots if you have GPS in your cell phone or other device. The basic findings and facts are still Frassantino’s, but most of the descriptions are mine, as are the layouts.

I've attempted to organize the chapters in the chronological order as the events occurred during the battle. However, since the photographers' coverage of the battle was spotty - they covered some parts of the field and completely ignored others - this book is by no means intended to be a complete coverage of the battle. For a step-by-step tour of the battle, and an excellent companion to this book, I'd recommend one of the several Gettysburg tour books, including one I wrote: Our Fathers at Gettysburg: A Step by Step Description of the Greatest Battle of the American Civil War - widely acclaimed by my mom as the greatest Gettysburg book ever written.

Anyway, I hope you find reading this book as enjoyable as it was for me to write it!

Jack Kunkel

Map Overview

Each chapter except the first has its own map in this book. Below is an overview of the portion of the field each map covers, and their chapter numbers.

I used markers on the chapter maps to show the general location of the photo and the direction of the shot. The marker locations may be slightly off, though you should have no trouble finding the spot once you're on location and using the book's modern picture as a guide. Where possible, I've tried to include a building, a road intersection or a monument to help orient you to the photo location. And of course the GPS coordinates should be dead-on.

GPA_ChapterMapOverview_MyMap

A Note About Map Coordinates

Viewing Each Photo Location

You'll find the map coordinates (GPS coordinates) above each photo in the book. These are the longitude and latitude of the position where the photo was taken. (Note that the subject of the photo might be yards - sometimes hundreds of yards - distant from the photographer's location). In any case, you click these coordinates to see that photo location on a live Google online map. If you don't like Google maps, you can copy the coordinates and paste them into an online Bing map or any other online mapping program and get the same location result.

Chapter 1 The Photographers

The old battlefield photos in this book didn't just pop up on our coffee tables. Somebody had to go out in the field and take the pictures, dealing with the smells, the elements and the bugs, using the crude photo equipment of the time. The men who took these photos were pioneers really, experimenting with the art and science of taking outdoor photos in the middle of an unprecedented civil war. Although they strived to give viewers the impression that the photos were taken in the heat of battle (sometimes even using posed scenes), no photos at Gettysburg, or any Civil War battle, were taken while the battle was in progress.

It's helpful to have some background of who these men were and how and when they took their photos. And the two photographers who particularly stand out when it comes to Civil War photography at Gettysburg and elsewhere, are Alexander Gardner and Matthew Brady.

Alexander Gardner

Alexander Gardner

Although Matthew Brady’s name is synonymous with Civil War photography, many of the more famous photos of Gettysburg - including all of the death photos - were taken by Brady’s nemesis, Alexander Gardner. It was also Gardner who took the famous death scenes the year prior to Gettysburg at Antietam. Gardner was Lincoln's personal photographer, and he took the famous photos of the Lincoln conspirators and their subsequent hanging in 1865.

Gardner once worked for Brady, and it was while in Brady's employment that Gardner took the death scenes at Antietam in September of 1862. These photos shocked the nation and were a tremendous financial success. But it was Brady's studio, and the photos went out in Brady's name, with Gardner receiving little or no credit and probably not much of the compensation. No doubt for that reason, in May of 1863 Gardner established his own studio, in the process luring away two of Brady’s top employees - Timothy O’Sullivan and James Gibson. (Unlike Brady, Gardner was careful to give credit to O’Sullivan and Gibson for their photos, and very likely that’s how he convinced them to join his studio.)

Brady’s main studio was in New York, 210 miles from Gettysburg, whereas Gardner’s studio was in Washington, just 77 miles from the battle. So, upon hearing of a great battle at Gettysburg, Gardner and his crew had a head start.

Based on painstaking analysis by William Frassantino, it appears that Gardner and his associates spent the night of July 4th in Emmitsburg, Maryland, about 10 miles south of Gettysburg. They reached the battlefield about 5pm on July 5th. It would have taken at least an hour or more to set up the photo equipment, so the earliest they could have commenced taking photos was 6 or 6:30pm. Night fell at 7:24pm on that day. So if they did any photography on July 5th, it was minimal.

Therefore, most of the Gardner death-photos were taken on July 6th. By then portions of the Army of the Potomac were already departing Gettysburg in a half-hearted attempt to catch Lee.

Amazingly, three entire days after the battle, Gettysburg residents had not yet discovered the tour-guide business. And so Gardner and his crew probably wandered the battlefield pretty much on their own, getting directions and advice from Federal militia guarding burial details of Confederate prisoners.

The last elements of Lee’s army departed Gettysburg via Hagerstown Road (today, Fairfield Road) on the morning of July 5th. Beginning that day, the Union army collected all loose weapons on the field and then set about burying the dead, starting from the north end of the field and working the south. First they buried the Union dead, and then the Confederates. So the last bodies to be buried were Confederates on the southern end of the battlefield.

Given the sensation caused by his death scenes at Antietam, Gardener was obsessed with photographing dead soldiers. Fortunately for him, he just happened to approach the battlefield from the south, where the last dead remained unburied.

Bottom-line, all of Gardner’s death scenes had to be taken either late on the 5th or on the 6th, because by the morning of July 7th, the Army of the Potomac had departed Gettysburg, with the burials completed. And, with one possible exception, all the death photos taken were on the south end of the battlefield, specifically around Little Round Top, Devil's Den and Rose Farm.

The one possible exception pertains to some photos of dead Union soldiers in an unknown location, Somehow, somewhere, but most likely as Gardner approached the battlefield up Emmitsburg Road, he happened upon some as yet unburied Union dead, but it's a mystery as to where and when he did so. It's likely the Union dead where the first photos he took on the battlefield. From there, Gardner likely moved on to photograph the Confederate dead south of the Rose farm, and from there he headed over to Devil’s Den.

Probably camping near Devils Den on the evening of the 6th, Gardner’s crew was likely put out of action for the next couple of days due to rain and cloudy skies, making outdoor photography difficult or impossible at that time. He next surfaced at East Cemetery Hill, where he was the first of legions of photographers to take the obligatory shot of the Evergreen Cemetery Gate. Probably by then growing antsy to get back to Washington with his precious death scenes, he hung around town long enough to take some rather dull shots of Gettysburg buildings. But that was it. On the morning of July 9th Gardner and his associates departed for Washington, no doubt intensely pleased to have scooped their former employer, Brady. But in their rush, they skipped taking any photos west or north of town, or of Culps Hill, the Peach Orchard, the Wheatfield or Cemetery Ridge. Possibly they weren’t aware of the importance of these locations so soon after the battle or, more likely, they knew there were no more bodies there to photograph.

Matthew Brady

Mathew Brady

About a week after Gardner’s departure, Brady and his photographic crew reached the town, probably around July 15th or 16th. There being no bodies to photograph by then, Brady concentrated his shots on significant landmarks and panoramas. Unlike Gardner, who had to rush to get his shots before bodies were buried, Brady could take his time. Partially for that reason, Brady’s shots are all well composed, with consistently sharp, detailed backgrounds. And no doubt he had a local guide by then, who escorted him to the best spots.

Brady’s eyesight was bad and he actually didn’t take any photographs himself, instead leaving that up to his unnamed assistants. But Brady was certainly the supervisor.

Even though he could take his time, Brady, like Gardner, neglected to take any photographs of Cemetery Ridge, the Peach Orchard or the Wheatfield. And for some odd reason, he didn’t bother taking any photos of the highly photogenic Devil’s Den, which would have been in his full view from Little Round Top.

Brady probably departed the field around July 23rd at the latest.

Local Photographers

Although Gettysburg and the surrounding area had some local photographers at the time of the battle - particularly the Tyson Brothers, the Weaver Brothers and Frederick Gutekunst - they were studio photographers, unequipped to take outdoor photographs. Thus it took a couple of weeks after Brady’s departure before the local photographers obtained the necessary equipment to venture outside.

Their photos over the following months and years have given us valuable additions to what Gettysburg looked like at the time, with numerous photos of town buildings, the interior of Evergreen Cemetery, Rock Creek, and more.

Oddly, no photographer seems to have bothered taking photos of the hastily